Hopper car discharge outlet assembly



Oct. 3, 1967 G. B. DOREY HOPPER CAR DISCHARGE OUTLET ASSEMBLY 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 WW M Filed March 9, 1964 /N VE TOR Oct. 3, 1967 G. B. DOREY HOPPER CAR DISCHARGE OUTLET ASSEMBLY 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 9, 1964 /N YEA TOR G. B. DOREY HOPPER CAR DISCHARGE OUTLET ASSEMBLY Oct. 3, 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 9, 1964 Oct. 3, 1967. G. B. DOREY HOPPER CAR DISCHARGE OUTLET ASSEMBLY 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

Filed March 9, 1964 IN vEN 70R United States Patent 3,344,748 HOPPER CAR DISCHARGE OUTLET ASSEMIELY George B. Dorey, Westmount, Quebec, Canada, asslgnor to Continental Transport Appliances Limited, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, a corporation of Canada Filed Mar. 9, 1964, Ser. No. 350,277 6 Claims. (Cl. 105-282) The invention relates to an outlet assembly for the discharge opening of a hopper and relates more particularly to that type of outlet assembly embodying a sliding gate for controlling discharge of lading and such as is largely used for the discharge opening of railway hopper cars and the like.

The objects of the invention among others are: to provide improved multiple linkage mechanism of the toggle locking type for moving a gate in either a closing or opening direction by rotation of an operating shaft; to provide means having the dual function of adapting winding linkage to operate in compression for moving a gate to closed position and further operating to bias said linkage towards a straightened toggle locking position; to adapt winding linkage mechanism with lost motion for shortening the effective length of operating arms for opening movement of a gate and increasing the effective length for closing movement; to provide linkage means with laterally extending shoulders for cooperation with trackways for biasing said linkage to assume a straightened toggle locked position; and to provide means on the shaft for application of a sealing ribbon at either side of the assembly and in the provision of lost motion whereby initial rotation of the shaft in a direction to open the gate operates to break the ribbon before any movement of the gate is effected.

The invention further resides in certain details of construction and refinement of parts such as will be described hereinafter.

For further comprehension of the invention reference may be had to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional View taken through the lower part of a railway hopper car showing an embodiment of my invention, said view showing only so much of the car as necessary to show the application of my improvement.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the outlet assembly shown in FIG. 1 with the hopper car walls omitted.

FIG. 3 is a detached side elevational view, on an enlarged scale, of the winding linkage mechanism as seen in extended relation.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the linkage mechanism show in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a frontal elevational view, on an enlarged scale, of the assembly shown in FIG. 1 as seen in detached relation.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal vertical side view, on an enlarged scale, of the assembly shown in FIG. 1, as viewed from left to right.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view as taken on a line 7-7 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 except that the gate is shown in partially opened position.

FIG. 9 is a fractional view of FIG. 8 showing in full lines the winding linkage mechanism as positioned at the completion of the gate opening movement and indicating in dot and dash lines the position of the linkage upon initiation of the movement to open the gate.

FIG. 10 is another fractional view of FIG. 8 showing the position of the linkage as contact is established between the'laterally extending shouldered means and the underside of the trackway.

FIG. 11 is still another fractional view of FIG. 8 showing the position of the linkage as a rocking movement about the shouldered means takes place consequent upon the upward swing of the pivot connecting with the arm means thereby biasing the linkage to a straightened position.

In the drawings the improved outlet assembly as seen at 10 is applied to a center discharge hopper car which is defined in part by longitudinally extending downwardly converging walls 11-11 meeting with transversely extending downwardly converging walls 12-12 to form a four sided hopper leading to a discharge opening 13. The rails on which the car is mounted are indicated at 14 and the trucks are indicated by the wheels 15-15.

The outlet assembly includes an upper section 16 having longitudinally extending inwardly sloping walls 17-17 meeting with transversely inwardly sloping walls 18 and 19 to form a four sided structure adapted to overlie the walls 11 and 12 of the car hopper.

The upper section 16 is nested in a lower frame assembly 29 formed in part by longitudinally extending transversely spaced side members 21-21 meeting with transversely extending longitudinally spaced members 22, 23 and 24. Said side members 21-21 in combination with longitudinally spaced members 22 and 23 form a rectangular shaped chute of appreciable depth.

The sloping walls 1'7-17 and 18 include sloping extensions which extend a limited distance beyond the side walls 21-21 and end wall 22 and the marginal edges of said sloping walls form three sides of the actual discharge opening. The fourth side of the opening is formed by the lower marginal edge 25 of the sloping Wall 19.

The lower transverse member 23 is preferably in the form of a channel and includes a vertically disposed web 23a and upper and lower flanges as indicated at 27 and 28. The upper flange 27 is spaced from the lower marginal edge 25 of the sloping wall 19 to provide a slotted opening 26 for the passage of a sliding gate 30 therethrough. The sliding gate 30 is adapted to close the discharge opening as for-med by the marginal edges of the extensions of sloping walls 17-17 and 18 and the marginal edge 25 of wall 19. Said gate 30 when in closed position slopes downwardly towards the end wall 22 and is supported at an intermediate location by lugs 31-31 and the overhanging end of the gate is adapted to rest on a series of lugs 32 carried by the end wall 22. The gate 30 when in closed position underlies the caves of the sloping extensions of the sloping walls 17-17 and'18 and is movable therefrom to an open position beyond the discharge opening. The side members 21-21 which are extended appreciably beyond the discharge opening carry downwardly sloping runways 33-33 on which the gate 30 is supported in open position. v

The mechanism for moving the gate 30 includes a rotatable shaft 34 journalled in bearings 35-35 which in turn are carried by the longitudinally extending side members 21-21 adjacent the distal end thereof. The shaft 34 is fitted with a pair of radially extending arms 36-36 which are non-rotatably mounted thereon and disposed in axially spaced relation to lie inwardly of and adjacent to the runway members 33.

The radial arms 36-36 are connected with the gate 30 by means of linkages including terminal link 37-37 and intermediate links 38-38. The connections between terminal links 37 and the gate 30 are effected through pivot pins 49 which extend through a pair of walls 41-41 which in turn are welded at 42 to the underside of the gate.

The intermediate links 38 are each preferably formed of spaced walls 43 and 44 which straddle the associated terminal link 37 and radial arm 36 and the connection with said members is by means of pivot pins 45 and 46. The walls 43 and 44 are united transversely by an upper wall 47 which extends throughout the length of the side walls 43 and 44 to form abutments engageable with the radial arm 36 and terminal link 37 to limit the extent of over center knuckling of the linkage when in extended position (FIG. 3 and FIG. 8).

The pivot pins 40, 45 and 46 are preferably in the form of headless pins and are welded at their respective ends to the associated wall members as shown at 48, 49 and 50 respectively.

The linkage mechanisms as constituted by the arms 36 and linkage members 37 and 38, as best seen by reference to FIG. 6, assume an overcenter toggle locked position forming a strut-like rigid connection between the shaft 34 and the gate 30 to positively maintain the latter in closed position.

By reason of the downwardly inclined runways 33 and the weight of the linkage mechanism, the gate 30 is biased towards a closed position particularly under running shocks and bumping impacts. In view of the security against accidental opening of the gate thus afforded by the downward bias and the further enhancement by the overcenter toggle knuckling, the usual supplementary latching devices are omitted and provision made for applying a sealing ribbon 51 to act directly on the shaft. The arrangement for applying a sealing ribbon 51 is duplicated on opposite sides of the assembly thereby enabling a workman to process the entire operation of either closing or opening the gate from one location. The arrangement for receiving the sealing ribbon 51 consists of Walls 52 and 53 carried by the assembly and shaft respectively and disposed immediately adjacent to each other at each side of the assembly. The said walls 52 and 53 are formed with apertures 54 and 55 in the respective walls and said apertures are arranged to be in registering alignment when the gate is closed with the linkage mechanism in overcenter toggle locked relation. The extent of overcenter knuckling movement is such as to provide sufficient lost motion of the shaft to move the apertures 54 and 55 out of registering alignment before any opening movement of the gates takes place. The extent of this lost motion is evident by reference to FIG. 6 wherein the position of the linkage and arms at the completion of the lost motion movement is indicated by conventional dot and dash lines.

The opening operation of the gate 30 is effected by a folding of the linkage on the shaft 34 consequent upon rotation of the latter in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIGS. 6 and 9. The closing operation of the gate is effected by rotation of the shaft in the opposite direction to unfold the linkage. In order to eificiently effect the closing of the gate 30 it is advisable that unfolding of the linkage be controlled to first retain the linkage enfolded around the shaft 34 as seen in FIG. 9 and thereafter bias the linkage to the straightened position as seen in FIG. 8. To this end the intermediate linkages 38 are each provided with arlaterally extending shoulder 56 extending beneath the runway 33 for cooperation therewith as will be described. The undersurface 57 of the runways constitutes a flat, trackway extending lengthwise for the full extent of travel of the gate in the open position and thereafter the trackway is continued by an arcuate shaped member 58 to extend around the shaft and provide a trackway surface 59 concentrically related to the axis 60 of the shaft 34.

The shouldered part 56 of the link 38 is formed with a flat seat 61 for cooperation with the that surface 57 of the trackway and with an arcuate shaped bearing sector 62 adapted to engage with the bearing surface 59 of the arcuate trackway. The function of the arcuate shaped sector 62 is the retention of the linkage in folded relation during substantially the first half revolution of the shaft 34 in a closing direction as seen in FIGS. 9 to 11. The function of the flat seat 61 is to engage the flat surface 57 of the trackway to bias the linkage to a straightened position as seen by reference to FIGS. 11 and 8.

The arcuately shaped sector 62 is contoured to be concentric to the curved trackway 59 when engaged there- 4 V with as seen in FIGS. 10 and 11. The peripheral surface of sector 62, although formed to correspond to trackway 59 and be concentric thereto when in engagement therewith, is spaced from said surface when the intermediate link 38 rests on the shaft as seen at 63 in FIG. 9. The spacing 63 provides limited lost motion in the rotation of the shaft to the extent shown at 64 upon reversing rotation from opening to closing movement. The lost motion thus obtained is of importance in mitigating the upward thrust on the gate at the initiation of the closing movement thereof. The lost motion thus has the effect of changing the direction of force from line 65 to 66 and increasing the effective length of operating arm by the distance 67 (FIG. 9). The shortening of the operating arm to the length 68 is advantageous in the opening operation of the gate when unusual resistance has often to be overcome. The opening movement of the gate is arrested by an abutment 69, disposed between the brackets 41-41, and adapted to engage the edge wall 70 of the terminal links 37 as shown in FIG. 9.

The shaft 34 with its linkages and associated gate 30 are assembled as a unit and to permit ready installation the bearings 35 are formed with open ends as at 71. The shafts are retained in position by hearing blocks 72 which are secured in place by bolts 73.

The shaft 34 is rotated through operating heads 7474 located at the respective ends of the shaft 34. These heads have a plurality of openings 75 for receiving a removable operating bar indicated conventionally at 76. The operation through the medium of the operating shaft 34 acting on the linkage means through comparatively short radial arms 36 combined with a toggle action provides for greatly multiplied efiiciency in the initial opening movement of the gate or in the final closing of same. The employment of the short radial arms is advantageous in that the force exerted on the gate when the linkage is extended with the radial arms at a normal thereto is in the general direction of movement of the gate as seen in FIG. 8. The short radial arms further admit of locating the pivotal axis of the pivot connecting the radial arm means and linkage below the path of travel of the gate which in turn makes for profitable utilization of the underside of the runways as the controlling trackways.

What I claim as new is:

1. In combination,

(a) an outlet assembly for a hopper having an opening for discharge of lading,

(b) a gate for closing the opening movable to an open position beyond said opening,

(c) trackways carried by the assembly at each side thereof supporting the gate when in open position the ends of said trackways remote from the opening comprising downwardly curved ends,

(d) means for moving the gate including:

(1) a shaft rotatably carried by the assembly,

(2) radially extending arm means non-rotatably carried by the shaft,

(3) terminal linkage means pivotally connected at one end with the gate and (4) intermediate linkage means pivotally connected at one end to the other end of the terminal linkage means and at its other end pivotally connected to the distal end of the radial arm means,

(5) said linkages being foldable over the shaft for movement of the gate in an opening direction upon turning the shaft in a first direction and unfoldable for movement of the gate in a closing direction upon turning the shaft in a second direction,

(6) said arms and linkages upon closing movement of the gate being arranged to assume a straightened overcenter toggle locked relation, and

5 (7) shoulders extending laterally from the intermediate linkage means and underlying trackways to engage therewith for biasing the pivotally connected linkages towards a straightened toggle locked position.

2. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein:

(a) the laterally projecting shoulders of the intermediate linkages each comprise an arcuate surface concentrically related to the axis of the operating shaft when the linkages are folded therearound, and

(b) the undersurfaces of the downwardly curved portions of the trackways engaged by the laterally pr jecting shoulders constitute bearing surfaces concentrically related to the axis of rotation of the shaft for cooperation with the arcuate surfaces of the shoulders during a partial rotation of said operating shaft for holding the linkages in folded relation.

3. In combination,

(a) an outlet assembly for a hopper having an opening for discharge of lading,

(b) a gate for closing the opening movable to an open position beyond said opening,

(c) a trackway at each side of the opening supported by the assembly and carrying the gate, the end of each trackway distant from the opening being downwardly curved,

(d) rneans for moving the gate including:

(1) a shaft rotatably carried by the assembly,

(2) radially extending arm means non-rotatably carried by the shaft,

(3) linkage means pivotally connected at one end to the gate and at the opposite end to the distal end of the radial arm means,

(4) said linkage means comprising two members pivotally united to fold around the shaft for opening movement of the gate and to unfold for moving the gate towards closed position,

(5) the linkage member pivotally connected with the radial arm means being provided with a laterally extending shoulder projecting beneath the trackway and engaging therewith to restrain upward knuckling of the jointed linkage members,

(6) said projecting shoulders being adapted to engage the trackways when the linkage is fully extended and the radial arm means disposed at a normal to the extended linkage.

4. In combination,

(a) an outlet assembly for a hopper having an opening for discharge of lading,

(b) a gate for closing the opening movable to an open position beyond said opening,

(c) means for moving the gate, including:

(1) a shaft rotatably carried by the assembly,

(2) radially extending arm means non-rotatably carried by the shaft,

(3) terminal linkage means pivotally connected at one end to the gate and (4) intermediate linkage means pivotally connected to the other end of the terminal linkage means and at the other end to the distal end of the radial arm means,

(5) said terminal and intermediate linkage means being arranged to fold over the shaft for opening movement of the gate and to unfold for movement of the gate in a closing direction,

(6) said terminal and intermediate linkage mean-s upon closing movement of the gate being swingable to assume a straightened position and form a rigid strutlike connection between the shaft and gate,

(7) stop means on the intermediate linkage means cooperating with the terminal linkage and radial arm means to limit opening movement of the linkage arm means,

(8) trackways supported by the assembly extending in a straight line in juxtaposition to and supported the gate in open position and thereafter curving the present an arcuate section concentrically disposed with respect to the axis of the shaft, and

(9) laterally extending shouldered means projecting from the intermediate linkage means to engage with the straight ortion of the trackways for biasing the terminal and intermediate linkage means to a straightened toggle locked position and (10) said shouldered means including means for engaging the concentrically related arcuate section of the trackway for controlling unfolding movement of the intermediate linkage.

5. In combination,

(a) an outlet assembly for a hopper having an opening for discharge of lading,

(b) a gate slidingly mounted for closing the opening,

(1) track means for supporting said gate, said track means including downwardly curved ends remote from said opening,

(c) means for moving the gate including:

(1) an operating shaft rot-atably carried by the assembly,

(2) radially extending arm means non-rotatably carried by the shaft,

(3) terminal linkage means pivotally connected at one end to the gate, and

(4) intermediate linkage means pivotally connected at one end to the other end of the terminal linkage means and having the other end pivotally connected to the distal end of the arm means,

(5) said terminal and intermediate linkage means being foldable about and unfoldable from said operating shaft when it is rotated to open and to close the gate,

(6) said intermediate linkage means including spaced side Walls straddling the arm means and terminal linkage means, said side walls being connected by a top wall, and

(7) said top wall comprising abutments engaging with the terminal linkage means and arm means to limit overcenter knuckling of the linkage mechanism, and

(d) means for receiving a sealing ribbon when the gate is in closed position with the extended strut-like linkage means in overcenter toggle locked position, comprising:

(1) apertured walls carried by the shaft and assembly respectively and disposed in adjacency with the apertures in registering alignment for receiving a sealing ribbon therethnou-gh only when the linkage mechanism is in overcenter toggle locked relation,

(2) the extent of overcenter knuckling movement of the mechanism being such as to provide sufficient lost motion in the rotation of the shaft as to bring the apertures out of alignment and prevent insertion of the sealing ribbon unless the gate is completely closed.

6. In combination,

(a) an outlet assembly for a hopper having an opening for discharge of ladin-g,

(b) a gate for closing the opening movable to an open position beyond said opening,

(c) trackways carried by the assembly at each side of the opening juxtaposed to and supporting the gate when in open position, said trackways being curved downwardly at their outer ends,

(d) means for moving the gate including:

(1) a shaft rot-atably carried by the assembly,

(2) radially extending arm means non-rotatably carried by the shaft,

(3) terminal linkage means pivotally connected at one end with the gate and (4) intermediate linkage means pivotally connected at one end to the other end of the tenninal linkage means and at its other end pivotally the intermediate linkage for engagement with the trackway,

(3) said shouldered means becoming spaced from the trackway during opening movement of the gate and (4) move outwardly to engage with the trackway during rotation of the shaft to close the gate thereby lengthening the effective length of the connected to the distal end of the radial arm operating arm.

means,

(5) whereby said linkages fold over the shaft for 10 movement of the gate in an opening direction when said shaft is turned in one direction, and

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS unfold therefrom for movement of the gate in a 797,332 8/ 1905 Stevenson 105304 closing direction when said shaft is turned in 2,859,707 11/1958 Dorey 105-482 X the other direction, 15 3,082,706 3/1963 Dorey 1o5 2s2 (e) means for retaining the linkage in folded relation 3,100,457 8/ 1963 Dorey l 105282 upon initial closing movement of the gate including:

(1) a trackway concentrically related to the shaft, ARTHUR LA POINT: P r 1mm? (2) shouldered means extending laterally from H. BELTRAN, Assistant Examiner, 

1. IN COMBINATION, (A) AN OUTLET ASSEMBLY FOR A HOPPER HAVING AN OPENING FOR DISCHARGE OF LADING, (B) A GATE FOR CLOSING THE OPENING MOVABLE TO AN OPEN POSITION BEYOND SAID OPENING, (C) TRACKWAYS CARRIED BY THE ASSEMBLY AT EACH SIDE THEREOF SUPPORTING THE GATE WHEN IN OPEN POSITION THE ENDS OF SAID TRACKWAYS REMOTE FROM THE OPENING COMPRISING DOWNWARDLY CURVED ENDS, (D) MEANS FOR MOVING THE GATE INCLUDING: (1) A SHAFT ROTATABLY CARRIED BY THE ASSEMBLY, (2) RADIALLY EXTENDING ARM MEANS NON-ROTATABLY CARRIED BY THE SHAFT, (3) TERMINAL LINKAGE MEANS PIVOTALLY CONNECTED AT ONE END WITH GATE AND (4) INTERMEDIATE LINKAGE MEANS PIVOTALLY CONNECTED AT ONE END TO THE OTHER END OF THE TERMINAL LINKAGE MEANS AND AT ITS OTHER END PIVOTALLY CONNECTED TO THE DISTAL END OF THE RADIAL ARM MEANS, (5) SAID LINKAGES BEING FOLDABLE OVER THE SHAFT FOR MOVEMENT OF THE GATE IN AN OPENING DIRECTION UPON TURNING THE SHAFT IN A FIRST DIRECTION AND UNFOLDABLE FOR MOVEMENT OF THE GATE IN A CLOSING DIRECTION UPON TURNING THE SHAFT IN A SECOND DIRECTION, (6) SAID ARMS AND LINKAGES UPON CLOSING MOVEMENT OF THE GATE BEING ARRANGED TO ASSUME A STRAIGHTENED OVERCENTER TOGGLE LOCKED RELATION, AND (7) SHOULDERS EXTENDING LATERALLY FROM THE INTERMEDIATE LINKAGE MEANS AND UNDERLYING TRACKWAYS TO ENGAGE THEREWITH FOR BIASING THE PIVOTALLY CONNECTED LINKAGES TOWARDS A STRAIGHTENED TOGGLE LOCKED POSITION. 